Have you heard that phrase regarding the status of Army, Air Corps, and National Guard records from World War II? Roughly 80% of these records did burn in a fire in 1973. The Navy, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and Marine Corps records were unaffected, except for a very small percentage. Researchers with family members in these branches have access to complete military service histories. All the tools researchers need to start exploring their World War II sailor or Marine’s service are included in this volume.

The tools include:

The basics of starting research.

Tips for online and offline military research. Instructions for ordering and using the Official Military Personnel File and collateral records to reconstruct service history.

Tips for researching from Europe.

Tips on researching the service history of women who served in the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps.

And, tips for placing the soldier into historical context using higher level records.

Through dozens of examples, checklists, and document images, researchers are taught how to analyze the Official Military Personnel File, records created for the Missing, the Prisoners, and the Dead, and numerous other records which may help reconstruct the service history. This is the most important reference guide researchers need to begin researching and writing the story of their Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Merchant Marine World War II sailor or Marine available today.

“Jennifer Holik’s Stories From the World War II Battlefield is a remarkable achievement. The growing number of people dedicated to learning of an ancestor’s World War II military service cannot afford to miss it! It provides a clear and focused explanation of the sometimes baffling archival resources available to the public related to wartime service. I’ve been studying World War II for more than three decades, and I still learned plenty of new research techniques from Jennifer’s book.” — Joseph Balkoski, author of Omaha Beach and Beyond the Beachhead

“Well written, well organized and authoritative, Stories from the World War II Battlefield is an outstanding how-to guide for World War II genealogical research. Quite simply, this is the best single resource for tracing the World War II service of individual servicemen and women. I highly recommend it.” — John C. McManus, Ph.D., Curator’s Professor of History, Missouri S&T, Author of The Dead and Those About to Die, D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach.